Etymology

Other versions of the legendarium

At an early stage in writing The HobbitJ.R.R. Tolkien used the name "Fingolfin" for the Goblin-leader, which also contained the word "golf" for the joke about the origin of the game (although not as prominently as in "Golfimbul").[3] Many years later, in the never-finished 1960 rewrite of the story, Tolkien intended to change the name to "Gulfimbul".[4]John D. Rateliff speculated that this was either a further evolution of Tolkien's languages or because he was dropping the golf-joke reference[5] (the 1960 revision was an effort to "upgrade" The Hobbit to the same epic level as The Lord of the Rings).